MANILA, Philippines - Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales on Tuesday said she will file before the House of Representatives another impeachment case against Chief Justice Renato Corona if the Senate court will acquit the high magistrate.
"If warranted, we will," Morales told Senator-Judge Miriam Defensor-Santiago during a clarificatory questioning at the impeachment proceedings.
Santiago posed the question to Morales regarding the ongoing fact-finding investigation or case build-up of the Office of the Ombudsman in connection with current impeachment trial of the Chief Justice.
The senator-judge also asked Morales if the mandate of her office would override the provisions of the Anti-Money Laundering Act and the Foreign Currency Act, which provide that a court order be secured before certain dollar accounts are examined.
"I must abide by the provision of the Ombudsman Act," Morales said.
The Ombudsman , who was presented by the defense panel as a hostile witness, told lead defense lawyer Serafin Cuevas that she was personally involved in the preparation of the power point presentation of the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) report on Corona's alleged dollar accounts.
"I was involved personally in the preparation of the power point presentation of the AMLC report," she said.
She, however, pointed out that her office did not verify the accuracy or correctness of the entries and figures contained in the report, noting that it was personally given to her by AMLC executive director Vicente Aquino.
"If the contents are accurate, correct, I would have no way of knowing... It is the presumption of regularity since they are reflected on the data of the AMLC," Morales said.
Organized effort
The defense panel, meanwhile, said that the documents presented by Morales regarding the alleged dollar accounts of Corona are not credible.
Defense panel lawyer Jose Roy III said there appears to be an “organized political effort” from the President and the people behind him to “act into the detriment of the Chief Justice’s defense.”
“… his challenge to have her resign if it is proven is something he finds very important so his instructions are to carry one,” Roy said.
He added that the documents presented by Morales are “raw” and “incomplete” since it did not state the basis for the inclusion and non-inclusion in Corona’s Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net worth (SALN).
“It is obvious that this is raw data. You’ve seen the documents, we cannot make heads or tails out of it. I’m sure when the ombudsman received it she didn’t know either,” he said.
Roy said the defense is concerned that the Ombudsman did not even bother to conceal their collaboration.
“We're very saddened that we received the report that the speaker has suppressed the SALN’s of the prosecutors so were concerned that there’s not even an attempt to conceal their collaboration,” he said.
“They don’t even bother to conceal their connivance. You already know that private and confidential report to the Chief Justice. A letter to the Chief Justice came out in the papers even before he was able to see it.”
Roy said the chief magistrate will indeed testify when the right time comes. The documents presented by the Ombudsman, according to Roy, gave something for Corona to review.
“I don’t think you will find it satisfactory if you will just say wholesale that this is false so give him a chance to present his side.” -- Alexis Romero and Jamille Domingo